| This study aims to explore the effects of spatial anxiety and gender and reference frame on spatial navigation performance in large-scale three-dimensional flight space.Wayfining(Lawton,1994)refers to the process of getting from the point of origin to the destination in space according to a certain strategy.There are many individual factors that affect pathfinding.Spatial anxiety was one of the internal factors.Individuals with higher levels of spatial anxiety have lower performance in completing tasks(Lawton,1994).Research on spatial anxiety can not be separated from its interaction with gender and pathfinding strategies.Women’s spatial anxiety was generally higher than that of men and thus has poor navigation performance;the pathfinding strategies were divided into two categories.Due to the two wayfinding strategies,studies have shown that women were good at using line strategies and men were good at using cognitive map strategies.And the different positions of the reference frame also affect navigation performance by affecting the distribution of attention and cognitive load(Helleberg&Wickens,2003;Lancaster&Casali,2008).The aviation field requires very high performance for pilots,because any small mistake may cause irreparable loss.Therefore,it was of great theoretical and practical value to study the influencing factors and interactions of space navigation performance in the aviation field.In the past,the research on navigation performance was basically limited to questionnaires or simple keystroke experiments.Both the complexity of the content and the simulation of the space environment and the real-time interaction were far from the actual flight environment.Can the results be generalized?The aviation field also deserves further exploration.Therefore,in the first study,the previous research results were first validated and further explored in the three-dimensional simulation flight space.The large-scale three-dimensional space simulation flight environment under study was implemented by Navitest navigation and testing software independently developed by the Civil Aviation Flight University of China.Space anxiety was measured using the "Space Anxiety Scale" and the return performance of the subjects was measured.32 subjects were tested.Study II explored the impact of reference systems and spatial anxiety on the performance of flight space navigation,including the specific form and location effects of the reference system.The reference system was implemented through the prompt information module in the system,and the reference frame position can be self-defined and the return performance of the test subject can be measured.Experiment 2 explored the effects of spatial anxiety,gender,and reference on navigation performance.The reference system was divided into three levels:a graphical reference system,a text reference system,and no reference system.96 subjects were tested.Experiment 3 was the location effect study of the reference system.The location was divided into two levels,upper left and right,and 64 subjects were tested.The results showed that the navigation performance of individuals with high spatial anxiety was significantly worse than those with low spatial anxiety.This difference was reflected in total flight time,location differences,distance differences,and angle differences.Males have better navigation performance than women,both at the total flight time level and positional error.There was an interaction between gender and spatial anxiety in position errors.There was a statistically significant difference in positional error between males and females with high spatial anxiety.The female’s position error was significantly higher than that of males,and the position between male and female subjects under low spatial anxiety was significant.The difference in error was not significant.The main effects of the reference system were significant,mainly in the position error and distance error.The navigation performance of the graphical reference system was better than the text reference system and no reference system condition.There was no statistical difference in the navigation performance between the text reference system and the no reference system.Gender and reference systems interact significantly at distance error levels.For females,graphical reference systems were superior to non-reference systems and text reference systems,and there were no significant differences for men.The spatial anxiety and reference system interacted significantly in the distance error level.For the subjects with high spatial anxiety,there was no significant difference between the three reference systems.For the subjects with low spatial anxiety level,Graphical reference systems are superior to text reference systems.For individuals with high spatial anxiety,the navigation performance was better when the reference frame was on the right side,and the navigation performance was better when the reference frame was on the upper left for individuals with low spatial anxiety.Combining the above three experiments can draw the following conclusions and their theoretical and practical significance:(1)Gender,spatial anxiety and reference systems had a significant impact on spatial navigation performance.Men’s spatial ability was higher than that of women.High spatial anxiety lead to poor navigation performance.The navigation performance of graphical reference system was better than text reference system and no reference system.(2)The navigation performance of female individuals with high spatial anxiety was worse than that of male individuals,and this gender difference did not exist in individuals with low spatial anxiety.For women,graphic reference systems were superior to no reference systems and text reference systems,and there were no significant differences for men.For subjects with high spatial anxiety,there was no significant difference between the three reference systems.For subject with low levels of spatial anxiety,the graphical reference system was superior to the text reference system.For individuals with high spatial anxiety,the navigation performance was better when the reference frame was on the right side,and the navigation performance was better when the reference frame was on the upper left for individuals with low spatial anxiety.(3)This conclusion not only broadens the scope of the influencing factors of navigation performance,but also enriches the research results in the field of three-dimensional space navigation performance,and provides theoretical support for further research and exploration.It has certain theoretical and reference value.(4)The conclusions of this study provide certain references and inspirations for cockpit interface design and pilot selection.Priority is given to the selection of males with low levels of spatial anxiety and the use of graphical reference frames in the cockpit,and displayed by pilots with different spatial anxiety types.Different positions can get better navigation performance. |
PDF Full Text Request